Electronic device including lidar system, and method of controlling the same

Abstract

An electronic device includes a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system including an Rx sensor including autofocus pixels distributed among image pixels for sensing image information. The LiDAR system also includes a Tx light source configured to output a pulse laser. A processor calculates a distance between the LiDAR system and a subject using the autofocus pixels included in the Rx sensor and drives the Tx light source based on the distance. The processor adaptively determines the transmission power of the Tx light source based on the distance to the subject, and controls the Tx light source to output a pulse laser according to the transmission power.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device comprising:
 a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system comprising:
 an Rx sensor comprising autofocus pixels, and image pixels configured to sense image information, and 
 a Tx light source configured to output a pulse laser; and 
   a processor configured to:
 calculate a distance to a subject using the autofocus pixels included in the Rx sensor, 
 adaptively determine a transmission power of the Tx light source based on the distance to the subject, and 
 control the Tx light source to output the pulse laser according to the transmission power. 
   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a camera with an auto-focusing function,   wherein the processor is configured to calculate the distance to the subject using the auto-focusing function of the camera.   
     
     
         3 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the subject is in focus using the autofocus pixels, and to calculate the distance to the subject only in response to the subject being in focus. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic device of  claim 3 , wherein, in response to the subject not being in focus, the processor scans surroundings by driving the autofocus pixels instead of driving the Tx light source. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 adjust the transmission power of the Tx light source to a first power in response to the distance to the subject being equal to or less than a first distance;   adjust the transmission power of the Tx light source to a second power greater than the first power in response to the distance to the subject being greater than the first distance and equal to or less than a second distance, which is greater than the first distance; and   adjust the transmission power of the Tx light source to a third power greater than the second power in response to the distance to the subject exceeding the second distance.   
     
     
         6 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , comprising at least one of:
 a wearable device comprising smart glasses; and   a head-mounted device (HMD) comprising an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and a mixed reality (MR) device.   
     
     
         7 . A wearable electronic device comprising:
 an Rx sensor comprising a pair of autofocus pixels, each autofocus pixel configured to sense image information comprising a plurality of image frames;   a processor configured to:
 calculate a distance to a subject using the pair of autofocus pixels included in the Rx sensor; and 
 generate virtual content based on the image information and the distance to the subject; and 
 a display configured to display the virtual content. 
   
     
     
         8 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a Tx light source configured to output a pulse laser;   wherein, the processor is further configured to control the Tx light source to output the pulse laser according to a transmission power, wherein the transmission power is based on the distance to the subject.   
     
     
         9 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a camera with an auto-focusing function,   wherein the processor is configured to determine the distance to the subject that is in focus using the auto-focusing function of the camera.   
     
     
         10 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the subject is in focus using the pair of autofocus pixels, and to calculate the distance to the subject in response to the subject being in focus. 
     
     
         11 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 10 , wherein, in response to determining that the subject not in focus, the processor scans surroundings by driving the pair of autofocus pixels, instead of driving a Tx light source configured to output a pulse laser. 
     
     
         12 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 adjust a transmission power of the Tx light source to a first power in response to the distance to the subject being equal to or less than a first distance;   adjust the transmission power of the Tx light source to a second power greater than the first power in response to the distance to the subject being greater than the first distance and equal to or less than a second distance greater than the first distance; and   adjust the transmission power of the Tx light source to a third power greater than the second power in response to the distance to the subject exceeding the second distance.   
     
     
         13 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 7 , comprising:
 at least one of smart glasses, and a head-mounted device (HMD) comprising an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and a mixed reality (MR) device.   
     
     
         14 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to adjust one or more attributes of the virtual content based on the distance to the subject. 
     
     
         15 . The wearable electronic device of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more attributes comprise a color, a shape, a size, and an audio. 
     
     
         16 . A LiDAR system comprising:
 a Tx light source configured to output a pulse laser; and   an Rx sensor configured to receive pulse signals reflected by the pulse laser from a subject,   wherein the Rx sensor comprises a plurality of image pixels configured to sense image information, and at least one pair of autofocus pixels distributed among the image pixels, the at least one pair of autofocus pixels configured to obtain autofocus images, wherein a phase difference among the autofocus images is used to calculate a distance to the subject.   
     
     
         17 . A method of controlling an electronic device comprising an Rx sensor and a Tx light source, the method comprising:
 calculating a distance to a subject using autofocus pixels included in the Rx sensor before driving the Tx light source;   adaptively determining a transmission power of the Tx light source based on the distance to the subject; and   controlling the Tx light source to output a pulse laser according to the transmission power.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the calculating of the distance to the subject comprises at least one of:
 calculating a distance in which a phase difference among autofocus images becomes 0; and   calculating a distance corresponding to a maximum product between phases corresponding to the autofocus images.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein 
 the electronic device further comprises a camera with an auto-focusing function, and   the calculating of the distance to the subject comprises acquiring the distance to the subject in focus, the subject determined to be in focus using the auto-focusing function of the camera.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of  claim 17 .